1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a flat panel display, and more particularly, to a flat panel display that has a stand being easily fixed onto a base without a separate immobilization device.
2. Background of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flat panel display according to a related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art flat panel display is largely composed of a main body 1 for outputting images, a stand 2 for supporting the main body 1, and a base 3 installed at the bottom side, for bearing a load of the main body 1 being transferred through the stand 2.
Here, the upper end of the stand 2 is hingeably connected to the rear side of the main body 1 with a first hinge 4, and the lower end of the stand 2 is hingeably connected to the top surface of the base 3 with the second hinge 5. Therefore, when an external force is applied, the main body 1 pivots on the first hinge 4, and the stand 2 pivots on the second hinge 5.
Also, the second hinge 5 is provided with a torsion spring 5a. Therefore, when the stand 2 pivots towards the top surface of the base 3, the torsion spring 5a supplies an elastic force in the opposite direction, offsetting a torque generated by the weight of the main body 1.
As described above, the main body 1 and the stand 2 in the flat panel display of the related art are built to be able to pivot on the first and second hinges 4 and 5 by an external force. Thus, a user can apply force to the main body 1 and adjust its inclination angle. That is, to get a desired inclination angle of the main body 1, the user may pivot the main body 1 on the first hinge 4 or pivot the stand 2 on the second hinge 5.
FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating a case where the stand of the flat panel display of FIG. 1 is folded over the base.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, by pivoting the main body 1 and the stand 2 on the first and second hinges 4 and 5, the user is able to fold the main body 1 and the stand 2 over the stand 2 and the base 3, respectively.
This structural feature is very useful, especially when the flat panel display is hung on the wall or packed in a carton, in either case the volume of the flat panel display needs to be minimized. To this end, the user pivots the stand 2 on the second hinge 5 to fold it over the base 2 and at the same time, pivots the main body 1 on the first hinge 4 until the main body 1 is in parallel to the base 3 as shown in FIG. 2. Then, the user can hang the flat panel display on the wall using a wall mount or put it into a carton for ease of shipment.
Because the torsion spring 5a tends to cause the stand 2 to pivot up away from the base 3, an external shock could often cause the related art device to unfold from the position shown in FIG. 2. For this reason, a separate immobilization device (not shown), having a U shape, is generally used to fix the stand 2 to the base 3. However, the use of such immobilization device increases the cost of manufacture of the related art flat panel device because it must be separately manufactured. The related art immobilization device could also be somewhat awkward to use. Further, because the flat panel display cannot be hung on the wall or easily packed in a carton without the help of the immobilization device, users must be extra careful not to lose the immobilization device.